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It was cold in there

By Skean Dhude

For those that performed the heat tests I am interested how you got on. If you missed out try one next weekend.

I find this particular test very interesting because cold is something we don’t really experience. Sure we get cold over the winter when we are out and about. Even if you work out in the open it is only for a short period and then you are all wrapped up until when you get back inside where you soon warm up. When you think of the cold you have a vague memory of what it is like and it doesn’t seem like much. Your warm shower wipes away the memory as it wasn’t that bad.

Now when you do a test like this when you get back you can’t get warmed up like you did before. If you have the means then you can get hot drinks and hot meals which is good but they soon fade. You look forward to your hot meals, hot drinks and going to bed all wrapped up and then you don’t want to get out in the morning but you have too. It becomes an issue that you feel every minute of the day and it can actually be fatal. If your body temperature gets too low you can get hypothermia. Usually though it is a cold nose, cold hands and cold feet. They are bad enough especially when you can’t just get them warm easily but when you are cold getting dressed and going to the toilet then you really feel it. In my view this is worse than hunger in many respects. You can easily, relatively, go several days without food and a single meal or even a bit of food makes everything OK. With the cold a period of warmth followed by the cold again makes you feel a lot worse. Cold makes you feel miserable, lethargic and can bring you down without you realising.

My test brought back memories of when I was a kid when the coal fire had to be set and lit in the morning followed by a cold wash, getting dressed and waiting for the ice to defrost from the inside of the house as you got warm in front of the fire toasting a bit of bread before we went out but without the getting warm, the toast and, thankfully, without the ice.

Now consider how it felt and think about what you can do to alleviate that. Do you need more sheets, better socks and boots, a hat, a thermos flask or whatever else you felt you were missing. Then add that to your preps plus spares for everyone. Finally consider if everything is ready for a true winter test, what else would you need, maybe thicker socks or more clothes. We will try another of these test early in the new year. At that time there may be ice. Make sure you are ready.

6 comments to It was cold in there

My experience has been the memory of childhood again in exactly the same way as your experience. Yesterday, I bought a new fleece jacket but my other clothes are very good for the cold. My other fleeces were good but were too short. I find I can still deal with the situation reasonably well. Considering the very bad weather we’ve had recently I know I can still manage in a survival situation.The one thing that I did miss was a hot shower in the morning. Kenneth Eames.

Same as me more or less, we lived in a farmhouse 10 miles down the fens of lincolnshire, the fabulous thing about winter was we got snowed in, so there was no school!!! but looking back we only had the one open fire, lead water pipes etc…the bath water used to be grey that much lead leached out…I think if you sharpened my head you could use me as a pencil.

We had a re-run. My wife turned off the heating last night by accident. When I rose at 4.30 the temperature was 62 degrees and a gale blowing. We’ve had 80 mph gales all day plus rain. Its just warming up now. However, its good for the soul, to know that you can get by when you have to. Put a wasrm pullover on and keep active to generate heat. The alcohol stove can cook as well as it ever did. I’m looking forward to camping again, but my wife doesn’t camp and doesn’t like me going, she says I’m too old. I’m a boy at heart. Kenneth Eames.

SD, You are right, there would have been a half hour of cursing followed by activity. The activity would be trying to compensate for the missing articles. Its years since I went out with only a bedroll and aknife and axe, plus a few other items in my pockets. I have to think now, compass, notebook, pencil, snares,fishing kit, Gill net, I do not have a gill net now. Probably a few other things that I cannot think of now. Yes, tinder and several fire lighting devices. Kenneth Eames.